Mark Bradford has completed "City of the Big Shoulders," a monumental painting for the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago. The work, which took five years to create, maps migration patterns and structural racism, reflecting the city's strength and complexity through Bradford's signature abstract, layered style.
A drip painting by Jackson Pollock sold for $181.2 million with fees, and a bronze head by Constantin Brancusi from the S.I. Newhouse collection fetched $107.6 million at Christie’s, both joining the $100 million club at auction.
Adam Budak has been dismissed as director of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Krakow (MOCAK), effective from 12 May, with his employment ending on 30 June. The city of Krakow cited improper performance of duties related to work organization and team management, following an investigation triggered by a complaint signed by 37 employees. Budak disputes the decision, calling it baseless and made under time pressure, and is considering an appeal. Artists including Paulina Ołowska and Robert Knoke have rallied in support, with several artists withdrawing from MOCAK's 2026–27 programme in solidarity.
The City of Krakow dismissed Adam Budak as director of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Krakow (MOCAK) on May 16, citing improper performance of duties related to work organization and team management. Budak, who took the helm last summer, was replaced by acting director Grzegorz Kuźma, formerly the museum's deputy director, and will be officially terminated when his contract ends June 30. The dismissal followed an internal investigation spurred by a complaint signed by thirty-seven MOCAK staffers. In response, artists and curators including Paulina Olowska, Sabine Breitweiser, Alison Gingeras, and Candice Breitz signed a petition demanding Budak be heard, while several artists withdrew from MOCAK's 2026–27 programming.
The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs has announced a shortlist of six finalists for a public monument honoring jazz singer Billie Holiday, to be installed outside the Jamaica Performing Arts Center in Queens. Among the top contenders are British sculptor Thomas J. Price and Bahamian conceptual artist Tavares Strachan, whose proposals include abstract bronze forms and a mirrored column, respectively. Other finalists are La Vaughn Belle, Nikesha Breeze, Nekisha Durrett, and Tanda Francis, all of whom consulted with Holiday scholars and family members to develop their designs.
The May 19 evening sales at Sotheby’s and Phillips generated a combined $419.1 million, signaling a potential recovery in the contemporary and modern art market. Sotheby’s brought in $303.9 million—60% more than the previous year—led by a record-breaking $48.4 million Matisse, while Phillips achieved $115.2 million, more than double its 2025 sales. Both auctions saw high sell-through rates, with 98% and 100% of lots sold respectively. Notable lots included a $42.6 million Picasso, a $29.4 million van Gogh drawing, and strong performances by female artists like Lee Bontecou, Joan Mitchell, and Helen Frankenthaler.
The Sainsbury Centre in Norwich, England, has received a £91.2 million donation from politician and philanthropist Lord David Sainsbury, one of the largest gifts ever made to a UK museum. The funds will support a major refurbishment of the Grade II* listed building, originally designed by Norman Foster, including the conversion of the south cafe terrace into a sustainable space and the installation of photovoltaic panels. The museum was founded in 1973 through a donation from Lord Sainsbury’s parents, Sir Robert and Lady Lisa Sainsbury, who also commissioned Foster to design the gallery.
Christie’s generated $1.1 billion in back-to-back evening sales on May 18, driven by record-breaking prices for major artworks. The top lot was Jackson Pollock’s 1948 drip painting *Number 7A*, which sold for $181.2 million with fees, tripling the artist’s previous auction record. Other highlights included Constantin Brancusi’s *Danaïde* (ca. 1913) at $107.6 million, Mark Rothko’s *No. 15 (Two Greens and Red Stripe)* (1964) at $98.4 million, and Alice Neel’s *Mother and Child (Nancy and Olivia)* (1967) at $5.7 million. The sales featured works from the collections of S. I. Newhouse and Agnes Gund.
The third edition of the Napoli Gallery Weekend is scheduled for May 22–24, 2026, spanning the Chiaia district and the historic center of Naples. This year’s key development is the formation of an association of organizing galleries—Acappella, Alfonso Artiaco, Andrea Ingenito Contemporary Art, Galleria Fonti, Gallerie Riunite, Galleria Tiziana Di Caro, Studio Trisorio, and Umberto Di Marino—aiming to coordinate openings, exhibitions, and special visits while strengthening the city’s contemporary art scene. Highlights include shows by Valentina Artone, Adam Pendleton and Antoni Tàpies, David Bowes, Edoardo Aruta, Martin Kippenberger at Galerie Gisela Capitain’s Naples space, Salvatore Emblema and Luisa Lambri, and a geopolitical group exhibition titled "Global Folklore."
Intervista al gallerista di frontiera che ha aperto il suo spazio a Vasto in Abruzzo
Sangallo Fine Art, a modern art gallery located in Vasto, Abruzzo, Italy, is profiled in an interview with its founder Giorgio di Michele Marisi. The gallery, born from a chance encounter and a passion for 20th-century art, has carved out a distinctive space in the periphery of the art world. It is currently presenting the exhibition "Permanenza della materia espansa" (2026), curated by Lorenzo Madaro, which exemplifies its commitment to critical rediscovery and experimental display. Despite being geographically distant from traditional art hubs, the gallery has built a loyal clientele of knowledgeable collectors and international buyers, relying on direct relationships and participation in art fairs.
Phillips held its Modern & Contemporary Art Evening Sale in New York on May 19, 2026, achieving a complete sell-out with a total of $115.2 million. All 41 lots were sold, doubling the result from May 2025 ($52 million). Top lots included Andy Warhol's *Sixteen Jackies* ($16.2 million), Claude Monet's *La Route de Vétheuil, effet de neige* ($9.9 million), and Jackson Pollock's *Untitled* (1948) ($9.2 million). New auction records were set for Lee Bontecou, Pat Passlof, P.S. Krøyer, and Joseph Yaeger, while works by Salman Toor and Cecily Brown also sold above estimates.
British architecture firm Foster + Partners has completed the Jia Art gallery in Shanghai's Putuo district, a building wrapped in ribbed tubular glass that takes its curvilinear form from the blossoming flowers in nearby Changfeng Park. The gallery features a double-height atrium dividing exhibition spaces on the north side from community-oriented event and education areas on the south, with cantilevered upper levels and curved stainless steel tubes framing the facade.
Sir John Akomfrah's exhibition, originally presented at the Venice Biennale, is now on view at Liverpool's Walker Art Gallery. The show brings together a selection of the artist's acclaimed film and video works that explore themes of memory, migration, and the African diaspora, offering UK audiences a rare chance to see the Biennale presentation in a new context.
Newcastle Art Gallery in New South Wales, Australia, will open three new exhibitions on May 23, 2026, following its major expansion and reopening in February. The shows include the largest solo exhibition to date by Torres Strait Islander artist Brian Robinson, titled "Multiverse"; the first institutional solo show by Tiyan Baker, "Mouth Mnemonica"; and "The Mordant Family Gift," featuring 25 works donated by philanthropists Simon Mordant AO and Catriona Mordant AM. The gallery has already attracted over 80,000 visitors, surpassing its previous annual record.
Hastings Contemporary in the UK is hosting three major summer exhibitions until September 13, featuring international contemporary and modern artists. The shows include the first major UK solo exhibition of German-Brazilian artist Janaina Tschäpe, a solo show by Argentinian artist Miguel Rothschild with a new seascape installation, and "Moore / Freud," which brings together 20 works by Lucian Freud and Henry Moore exploring familial and personal connections.
The Brooklyn Museum will present the North American debut of "Iris van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses" from May 16 to December 6, 2026. The exhibition features over 140 haute couture creations by Dutch fashion designer Iris van Herpen, displayed alongside contemporary art, design objects, and scientific artifacts. It explores her fusion of traditional craftsmanship with cutting-edge technology, sustainability, and themes from nature and science. The show first opened at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris in 2023 and has traveled to QAGOMA, ArtScience Museum Singapore, and Kunsthal Rotterdam. The Brooklyn presentation coincides with the museum's annual Brooklyn Artists Ball, where Van Herpen will be honored.
The Art Gallery of South Australia is set to launch a new exhibition titled 'MONET TO MATISSE: DEFYING TRADITION,' which will feature works by iconic modern artists such as Claude Monet and Henri Matisse. The show aims to highlight how these artists broke away from conventional artistic norms to pioneer new movements in art history.
Helen Ochyra reports on how Tasmania, particularly Hobart, has emerged as a leading global art destination, driven largely by MONA (Museum of Old and New Art). The privately funded museum, founded by art collector David Walsh, recently opened a $100 million AUD wing housing a towering concrete amphitheatre by German artist Anselm Kiefer. Beyond MONA, Hobart hosts the provocative winter festival Dark Mofo, the science-and-culture Beaker Street Festival, and the inaugural Island Readers & Writers Festival, cementing its reputation for cutting-edge arts and culture.
The Vancouver Art Gallery has opened "Future Geographies: Art in the Century of Climate Change," an exhibition curated by Eva Respini, the gallery's interim co-CEO and curator at large. Featuring over 30 artists and 35 works—including sculptures, paintings, video installations, and photographs—the show explores climate change through themes of living knowledge, consumed earth, speculative worlds, and material memory. Highlights include Brian Jungen's whale-skeleton sculpture made from plastic chairs and Clarissa Tossin's multimedia weaving of Amazon boxes. The exhibition also incorporates sustainability in its organization, using recycled cardboard for labels, overland shipping for loans, and commissioning local artists.
Wiscasset Bay Gallery in Maine is presenting "The Grand Tour in Thirty Days," an exhibition running from May 23 through June 24 that showcases the evolution of painting from realism to impressionism to modernism. The show features works by European and American artists depicting popular and remote locales across Europe during the 19th and early 20th centuries, including pieces by Jean de Botton, Luigi Moretti, Robert Weir Allan, Polly Parker Nordell, and Mary Cassatt.
Loveland artist Annie O'Brien Gonzales, who specializes in bold, colorful floral paintings, is featured in 'The Bright Side' exhibition at The Lincoln Center in Fort Collins, Colorado. The show, which runs until June 12, includes her expressive acrylic and mixed-media works alongside pieces by Laura Merage, Tricia Soderberg, and Randall Steinke. O'Brien Gonzales, a former labor and delivery nurse and medical professor who became a full-time artist in 2004, will also teach a floral still life workshop at The Gardens on Spring Creek on May 31.
Christie's is presenting an online sale titled "Modern and Contemporary Middle Eastern Art: Online" from June 2–16, 2026, in London. The auction features 62 lots by leading modern and contemporary artists from the Gulf, the Levant, Iraq, Iran, and North Africa, including works by Samia Halaby, Saliba Douaihy, Baya, Parviz Tanavoli, Mohamed Melehi, and Abdul Halim Radwi. The sale marks 20 years since Christie's inaugural Middle Eastern art auction in the UAE in 2006.
The Singapore Art Museum (SAM) is celebrating its 30th anniversary while navigating the challenges of its 2022 relocation to Tanjong Pagar Distripark, a remote industrial building that has drawn mixed reactions—some visitors find it too inaccessible, while younger audiences applaud the move away from the colonial civic district. Director and CEO Eugene Tan defends the decision, citing the building's high ceilings and flexible spaces as ideal for contemporary art, and announces a fifth gallery opening by 2026 that will bring total exhibition space to 3,800 square meters. The museum also plans to experiment with open-air exhibition techniques in the new space, aiming to reduce energy demands.
The Art Gallery of New South Wales will open 'Avatar: Forms of Vishnu' in June, its largest exhibition of South and Southeast Asian art in over two decades. Featuring more than 200 works spanning 1,500 years, the show includes ancient sculptures, paintings, textiles, photography, and contemporary installations from institutions such as the British Museum, Ashmolean Museum, and National Museum of Cambodia. Curated by Melanie Eastburn and Chaitanya Sambrani, the exhibition explores artistic interpretations of Vishnu and his avatars across cultural, political, and spiritual contexts, with new commissions by Desmond Lazaro and Sumakshi Singh, and works by Nalini Malani, Pushpamala N, Gulammohammed Sheikh, and Jumaadi.
Hyperallergic reviews Martin Wong's posthumous exhibition "Popeye" at PPOW gallery, featuring six motorized plywood panels that reimagine the cartoon character Popeye as curving brickwork. The show includes smaller works like "Sacred Shroud of Pepe Turcel" (1989–90) and paintings of vintage cartoon characters Mutt and Jeff, Little Lulu and Tubby, all rendered in Wong's signature brick style. The review highlights Wong's queer, magpie sensibility and his ability to cross boundaries between high and low culture.
Romanesco im Max-Mara-Mantel
Evelyn Taocheng Wang's first institutional solo exhibition in Italy, "Sweet Landscape," opens at the Museion in Bolzano. The Chinese-born, Rotterdam-based artist presents silk paintings, pastel canvases, and painted garments that probe the region's complex history beneath its idyllic Alpine scenery. Works such as "Frog Princess Checks Her Smartphone in front of Window of August Macke’s Hat Shop" (2026) and "Ancient Roman bust for Sale" (2026) blend local food motifs, cultural translation, and hybrid identity, questioning who gets to write history and how landscapes are perceived through secondhand experiences.
Dorotheum's Contemporary Art auction in Vienna on May 20, 2026, set a new world record for Italian artist Carla Accardi, whose work *Fonda notte - Pieno giorno* (1986) sold for €520,000 to a telephone bidder. The sale also saw strong results for Martha Jungwirth (€429,000), Miriam Cahn (€195,000), and top lots including Thomas Schütte's *Vater Staat* (€520,000) and works by Mikuláš Medek (up to €546,000). International participation was robust, with particular demand for female artists and Central European figures.
Carol Jacobi, curator of a new exhibition at Tate Britain in London, aims to reframe the legacy of James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903), an artist often reduced in public memory to his 1877 libel lawsuit against critic John Ruskin. The show, the UK's first full Whistler survey since 1994, highlights his prolific output, evolving style, and belief that art should seek "a more fundamental beauty" beyond mere impression. It brings together many of his celebrated nocturnes and, for the first time, his sketchbooks, though the infamous Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket (1875) could not be loaned.
Alexandre Gabriel, a partner at São Paulo gallery Fortes D’Aloia & Gabriel, opens his home in the Praça da República neighborhood to reveal his personal art collection, which includes works by friends and a Robert Mapplethorpe photograph of Peter Berlin (1976). Gabriel describes how his collection began with gifts from artist friends he met while interning at a film production company in 1996, including Ivens Machado, Luiz Zerbini, Barrão, and Ernesto Neto, and emphasizes that his collection is strictly personal, guided by love and memory rather than market trends.
Greene Naftali presents Sophie von Hellermann's eighth solo exhibition, "After a Dream," featuring pairs of figures drawn from literature, art history, the artist's personal acquaintances, and imaginative constructs. The show explores creative relationships through the charged dynamic of the couple, presenting narrative chimeras that examine different forms of alignment and connection.